


our secret war

by graveExcitement (arachnids)



Category: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Genre: Gen, Misses Clause Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-09 12:21:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8890585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arachnids/pseuds/graveExcitement
Summary: In the heart of Sparta Command, Colonel Santiago and Lady Skye discuss the potential of an alliance.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [weakinteraction](https://archiveofourown.org/users/weakinteraction/gifts).



> Can be read as pre-Skye/Santiago.

"The Gaian messengers, sir," her aide reported.

Santiago nodded. "Send them in. Turn off the cameras." If Skye was so determined on secrecy that she would send her people as physical messengers, the least Santiago could do was not record said message. She wasn't particularly concerned about the possibility that they were assassins; she was confident she could fight them off, and if not, the biosensors embedded in her flesh would raise alarms if she was injured.

If she hadn't known the three people who entered to be Gaians, she might not have been able to tell. They were dressed in the Spartan way, impeccably so, but it was more than that; it was their body language, the way they walked, the way they held themselves, all Spartan. Knowing that this was a facade, she could see the discrepancies; the woman in the middle sat with slightly more grace than a Spartan soldier would have, and the man on the right had overshot and was a smidgen too stiff. But it was impressive nonetheless, and concerning. She would have to guard more carefully against Gaian probe teams.

"You have a message for me? Out with it."

The woman sitting in the middle, directly across from Santiago, smiled, eyes lidded. "You don't recognize me?" She had clearly dropped the Spartan act for the time being; she relaxed in her seat, languid.

Santiago narrowed her eyes. "Should I?"

"Well. Perhaps not right this moment. Adrienne?" The leftmost Gaian produced a cloth and gently patted at the center Gaian's face. When she was done, the woman sitting before Santiago looked startlingly familiar, and Santiago watched in concealed astonishment as she reached back and untied her dark hair from its harsh bun, letting it flow freely down to her shoulders. Santiago inhaled sharply.

"How about now?" asked Lady Deirdre Skye. It was strange to look at her; never before had Santiago seen or imagined Skye wearing anything like the muted garb typical of Spartan soldiers. The familiar, soft face, the messy hair, the relaxed form, contrasting with the Spartan clothes, it all compounded the effect.

"You have a lot of nerve, coming here in person," said Santiago.

Skye smiled. "Sometimes, to achieve one's aims, one must be unorthodox." 'Unorthodox' was putting it a little lightly, Santiago thought. Faction leaders rarely left their own capitals, as a general rule, let alone travel to another faction's base, let alone in secret. 'Unheard of' would be a better descriptor. That she would take this risk was very interesting. 

"Lady Skye," Santiago said. "Is there any reason we could not have done this over vid-call?"

"Why, there is every reason. No matter how well one encrypts such a conversation, the contents are still vulnerable. No disagreement, vendetta, truce, or treaty goes undiscovered. Even Zakharov's precious Hunter-Seeker Algorithm cannot completely disguise who it is he has been speaking to."

Santiago inclined her head. "All right. What proposal, then, do you have that could necessitate such secrecy?"

"You may have noticed my recent... disagreements with Miriam. I believe her latest _lovely_ pronouncement was that I was a 'godless fungus-loving freak' and that my entire faction was 'destined to burn in hell.'" She grimaced. "And if that weren't enough, that odious Morgan has been making quite a few demands of late. I'm told he's building his forces. It must pain him so, to see land such as mine, practically untouched."

"And I'm sure his extensive boreholes and condensers don't dismay you at all," Santiago said dryly. Skye took a breath to respond, but Santiago waved a hand. "I assume you want my assistance? What would the Spartan Federation gain from such a thing?"

A smile spread across Skye's face. "You are not exactly unthreatened yourself," she said. "The Believers are no more happy with you than they are with me, and Yang, trapped on his end of the continent, is gearing up for your inevitable confrontation. It won't be long now before the vendettas kick off; poor Lal will be so disappointed."

Santiago blinked, impassive. "It's an alliance you want, then." But then, why the secrecy? Did she want to plan a secret joint strike? Somehow, that idea didn't seem worth the trouble of Skye coming here in person.

"Naturally - but I haven't even gotten to the best part yet."

"I'm listening."

Deirdre grinned, leaning forward, and began to explain; Santiago thought that she rather resembled a shark. "The best part, Corazon, is that my Talents have perfected not only the breeding, but the _control_ of mind worms, to the point where the mind worm boils we control are indistinguishable from a native boil. You can see the potential in that, I'm sure."

"Indeed." With that piece of the puzzle, the implications were clear. Skye was suggesting a secret alliance, one where the Spartans would wage war publicly, the Gaians secretly assisting by sending 'native' boils to weaken the Spartans' opponents. That was what made the secrecy of this meeting paramount: Skye's proposal relied on no one suspecting that the Gaians might be helping the Spartans. Santiago stood and ordered everyone but Skye out. Both Santiago's guards and Skye's seemed wary, for good reason.

Skye waved off her guards' concern. "It's fine. But just so you know, Corazon; if I don't return from the Spartan Federation alive, you'll find that Sparta Command will be assaulted by a horde of mind worms. And neither of us wants that."

"Noted." Reluctantly, both Gaian and Spartan guards filed out of the room.

The door clicked shut. Santiago evaluated the woman sitting before her. Skye and her Gaia's Stepdaughters had always seemed somewhat soft; not necessarily a pushover, but also not quite a threat. It was clear now that Skye was silk hiding steel, a predator in her own right, coiled and ready to strike.

Finally, Santiago spoke. "I would not have expected this from you."

"Which part?"

"Any of it." The boldness of appearing before Santiago in person; the impressive disguise; the predatory nature.

"That's exactly why they won't see me coming." Perhaps, Santiago mused, Skye ought to be described not as a shark, but a panther.

"Why come to me with this? You could have harassed me along with the others with your 'native' boils, and I would not have thought anything of it."

"Ah, but we both stand to gain much, this way. The promise of a neighbor one does not have to guard against. Support in the vendettas to come."

"A traditional alliance has those benefits as well," Santiago pointed out.

"But those are _public,_ " Skye stressed. "Such a pact would be cause for alarm in the other factions, potentially leading to some of them uniting against us, in fear of our combined strength. Individually, they will not see us as such a threat."

"Especially not you," she observed.

"Especially not me," Skye agreed. "They will not unify until it is too late."

Santiago leaned back in her chair, considering. "I see the merits of your proposal. But I must know: why is it that you have come to me, and not to one of the other faction leaders?"

Skye was silent for a while, considering. "Respect," she finally said. "You alone both hold my respect, and you respect me now, after hearing my proposal. The same cannot be said for the others. They would react with fear, or disgust. But respect? No." She leaned forward, smiling. "You are a kindred spirit, Corazon Santiago. And between your military might and my 'native' mind worms, we won't need to feel threatened by the others anymore. Who knows? Maybe we could unify Planet under our banners."

Santiago picked up a glass on her desk and raised it in a mock toast. "To unity," she said; she was immediately reminded of the ill-fated _UNS Unity_. In retrospect, perhaps that particular name had been tempting fate. She set down the glass and said, "I look forward to working with you, Skye."

"Oh, please. Call me Deirdre."


End file.
